Team Trump Gets Major Win With Georgia Elections Board Case
Democrats won’t be able to prevent recently altered election rules designed to benefit Donald Trump, per a Wednesday ruling dismissing an effort by private citizens to force Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to open an investigation into the committee that crafted the regulations.“It would seem to me, that for formal charges, there’s some investigation comes in before that,” Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “There needs to be some investigation ... then trigger the governor to do something in that respect, not just a letter from the citizens.”Three Democrats, including state Senator Nabilah Islam Parkes, sued Kemp after he refused to act on their concerns regarding the Georgia State Election Board, which in August voted to make it easier for county election officials to delay or refuse certification of election results. Democrats argued that letters they had obtained constituted “formal charges” worthy of spurring an investigation. “They’re going rogue, and there’s no accountability,” Islam Parkes told the Journal-Constitution. “They need to be held accountable because we need to have fair elections.”Internal emails obtained by Rolling Stone and American Doom after the 3–2 election board vote along MAGA lines revealed that the board’s actions were fueled by a “wishlist” of documents from conservative county election officials.“As an American and native Georgian, I’m outraged Governor Brian Kemp is allowing law-violating, last minute election rule changes,” wrote one of the co-plaintiffs, former Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections Chair Cathy Woolard, in an op-ed for Newsweek on Monday, decrying Kemp’s inaction as “foul play.”Kemp’s attorneys argued that complaints by private citizens could not compel the governor to open an ethics investigation.“That is an extraordinary position to take,” Deputy Attorney General Logan Winkles said. “The court can imagine the chaos that would cause.”The plaintiffs told the Journal-Constitution that they intend to appeal the decision. The new election certification rules set the stage for bedlam come November, especially considering that at least 70 election officials across 16 counties in key swing states, including Georgia, have been identified as pro-Trump election deniers.Trump praised the MAGA members of Georgia’s board days before the August vote, describing Janice Johnston, Rick Jeffares, and Janelle King as “pit bulls fighting for victory.”According to the State Election Board’s website, the body is “entrusted with a variety of responsibilities and authority to protect all Georgians’ right to cast a ballot.”Georgia has had the largest number of certification refusals since 2020 of anywhere in the country. The five-person board has been accused of other ethics violations, including one instance in which its Trump-friendly majority failed to give proper notice to their Democratic colleagues about a meeting that they used to advance changes to state election rules.
Democrats won’t be able to prevent recently altered election rules designed to benefit Donald Trump, per a Wednesday ruling dismissing an effort by private citizens to force Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to open an investigation into the committee that crafted the regulations.
“It would seem to me, that for formal charges, there’s some investigation comes in before that,” Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “There needs to be some investigation ... then trigger the governor to do something in that respect, not just a letter from the citizens.”
Three Democrats, including state Senator Nabilah Islam Parkes, sued Kemp after he refused to act on their concerns regarding the Georgia State Election Board, which in August voted to make it easier for county election officials to delay or refuse certification of election results. Democrats argued that letters they had obtained constituted “formal charges” worthy of spurring an investigation.
“They’re going rogue, and there’s no accountability,” Islam Parkes told the Journal-Constitution. “They need to be held accountable because we need to have fair elections.”
Internal emails obtained by Rolling Stone and American Doom after the 3–2 election board vote along MAGA lines revealed that the board’s actions were fueled by a “wishlist” of documents from conservative county election officials.
“As an American and native Georgian, I’m outraged Governor Brian Kemp is allowing law-violating, last minute election rule changes,” wrote one of the co-plaintiffs, former Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections Chair Cathy Woolard, in an op-ed for Newsweek on Monday, decrying Kemp’s inaction as “foul play.”
Kemp’s attorneys argued that complaints by private citizens could not compel the governor to open an ethics investigation.
“That is an extraordinary position to take,” Deputy Attorney General Logan Winkles said. “The court can imagine the chaos that would cause.”
The plaintiffs told the Journal-Constitution that they intend to appeal the decision.
The new election certification rules set the stage for bedlam come November, especially considering that at least 70 election officials across 16 counties in key swing states, including Georgia, have been identified as pro-Trump election deniers.
Trump praised the MAGA members of Georgia’s board days before the August vote, describing Janice Johnston, Rick Jeffares, and Janelle King as “pit bulls fighting for victory.”
According to the State Election Board’s website, the body is “entrusted with a variety of responsibilities and authority to protect all Georgians’ right to cast a ballot.”
Georgia has had the largest number of certification refusals since 2020 of anywhere in the country. The five-person board has been accused of other ethics violations, including one instance in which its Trump-friendly majority failed to give proper notice to their Democratic colleagues about a meeting that they used to advance changes to state election rules.
